C-SPAN Bus Revamped for ‘50 Capitals Tour’

Since 1993, C-SPAN’s Bus has traveled across the country, speaking with communities and bringing public affairs from the heart of DC to students and teachers across the nation.

Seven years since its latest revamping, a new high-tech C-SPAN Bus is coming onto the scene just in time for the start of the school year and a new cross-country tour.

The transformation was a five month process, which is shorter than past constructions. Most of the modifications were improvements to the 2010 version, which used large-screen tablets and other interactive features to mark the bus’s shift from a production space to a venue for experiential learning.

“We needed a community education vehicle that is more for the experience, not for the production,” C-SPAN marketing manager Heath Neiderer explained in an interview with Cablefax. To achieve this, the new bus will include a smart TV and classroom area, 11 tablets with C-SPAN programming as well as political resources and a DC-themed selfie station to extend the bus’s reach into the world of social media.

This will be the fourth bus in the history of the program, which was started in part to educate audiences across America not only on C-SPAN’s programming, but on cable’s key role in the creation and support of the network.

“It’s thanks to the cable industry that we’re able to provide long-form unbiased content on public affairs here in Washington, DC,” Neiderer noted. “We’ll work closely with them in their communities to educate people on our close relationship.”

C-SPAN will be presenting this and more on its “50 Capitals Tour”, a 14-month tour taking the bus to each state capitol building in the lead-up to the program’s 25th anniversary in November 2018. As it journeys from place to place, elected officials will be featured on C-SPAN’s morning program, “Washington Journal.”

The bus also will be hearing from local voices, providing a platform for citizens to share their viewpoints on state and national issues based on their effects on their communities.

“The amount of programming that we plan to do within the 14 months is more extensive than normal,” Neiderer said. “We’re hoping to talk to all 50 governors as part of ‘Washington Journal.’”